Inferno in Purgatory
by Fantasie in D Minor
Summary: Caught as a duo on the grand expanse of SandSea? Hardly a wonderful situation. PeneloBalthier.


**Inferno in Purgatory **

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Gods, too, are fond of a joke.

Aristotle

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**Disclaimer: **I do not own Final Fantasy XII…I believe this is hardly necessary. I do, however, own the plethora of complicated terminology XD

**Summary: **Caught as a duo on the grand expanse of SandSea? Hardly a wonderful situation. PeneloBalthier.

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**Prelude**

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I was slowly, and rather painfully, loosing the battle against my encroaching ennui as the sun was penetrating the horizon, casting the usual vibrancy of color to the sky as is common during the sunset. My cerebral cortex, if I were to estimate the time of the inopportune moment, had stopped functioning approximately an hour beforehand, consequently leading to my inability to come up with anything remotely interesting to occupy my time with.

And how, one may wonder, did such a brilliant young man reach this state of absentmindedness? The answer, admittedly, is not particularly complicated: my so-called companions were asleep, and I, rather obviously, was not. The travel-warn members of my party kindly begged their leader, better known as me, for the permission to break camp…or simply decided without my consent (whichever one you prefer), and thus my inferno began.

Thankfully, however,—or perhaps unfortunately—my time of idle thought and lack of activity was cut dismally short due to a certain _something_ attacking my sitting form from behind; a certain _something_ with blonde braids and a hyperactive disposition. The fact that I was sitting upon the banks, tremendously close to the shoreline, of the SANDSEA most certainly did not help the situation any.

Traveling with the force of the aforementioned _something_'s momentum, our two silhouettes took to the air and noisily dove into the grand expanse of yellow sand, which I was somewhat enjoying the view of up to that moment. Mother luck, of all the rather memorable occasions, was on my side, as I had just enough time to shut my eyes and inhale the much needed, and soon to be lacking, oxygen into my system.

The next few second were marked rather nicely with the agonizing rub of sand on the bare skin of my hands and face, as well as the frantic moments of cold fear as I grappled to find Penelo's—for indeed I was certain the chances of Ashe or Vaan parading about with two braids were rather slim—hand or something to suggest she hadn't drowned.

I did, to my somewhat tremendous relief, manage to find the said hand and drag the body attached to it up to the surface with me in no great amount of time. With the waning net force of my diminishing energy, I hauled the two of us on shore before promptly, and rather unceremoniously, collapsing on all fours.

"I'm so sorry!" came the all too loud, for my sensitive ears and the close proximity, exclamation. And then, who would have guessed, I was attacked yet again. "Are you alright? Did I hurt you? Can you breathe? Did you break anything?..." I hope the reader won't mind if I finish that onslaught of questions in my own words: "blah, blah, blah."

"I'm simply spectacular, milady." Was my eventual response, as I was finally able to sit up and stop gulping down oxygen. "May I ask what you were…" I did not quite get to finish. Anyone want to take a guess as to what happened? Oh yes, I was attacked. Penelo clung to my sleeve, with the unfortunately ruined shirt cuff, before she started forcefully pulling me up.

"You have to come! Quick!" I would have displayed a rather large amount of skepticism towards that command…if only my line of sight, promptly enough, didn't fall on the exact reason for my "having to come."

**Author's Note: **I hope you've enjoyed the first chapter, and please do pardon the cliffhanger XD I shall vouch that the further chapter will be, to a rather large extent, longer and much more informative. This is, indeed, going to be Penelo/Balthier! Please R&R. I'm rather anxious to find what your opinion of this newest endeavor of mine is. Oh yes, and this is, in fact, my first Final Fantasy XII story.


End file.
